4th Sunday of Lent

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “ But whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14-15) This weekend the Gospel of John 4: 5-42 gives us the account of the conversion of the sinful Samaritan woman after her dialogue with our Lord at Jacob’s well. The conversation, which was initiated by our Lord casually asking the Samaritan woman for a drink, ended up with the grace and the miracle of her repentance and conversion from her sinful life. Returning to her village of Samaria, she shared the good news of her conversion and boldly proclaimed that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. Thus, she became an Apostle by proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ in her village and the surrounding areas. We are also called to be Apostles and to proclaim Jesus to the world by our love and service. Let us ask the Lord to continue to bless us to fulfill our Apostolic mission. The following are a few things I want to bring to your attention: 1.This weekend our parishioner, Larry Plunkett, the leader of Stewardship Committee, will be giving his witness regarding the Catholic Ministry Appeal (CMA) at all Masses. Please be generous to this diocesan wide appeal. 2. This week we begin the first scrutiny for our elect, Robert Escamilla, who will receive the Sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist at Easter Vigil on April 4, 2026. 3. Please come to praise and worship the Lord with song and music in the Eucharistic Adoration on Monday, March 9, 2026 from 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm. Please bring your children and youth to introduce them to Adoration. 4. On Wednesday, March 11, 2026, we will have our parish Lenten Penance Service at 6:30 pm. Please come and be reconciled to the Lord. 5. Next weekend we will have teaching Masses during which I will be explaining the different parts of the Mass during the Eucharistic celebration. This way we all can have a deeper understanding of the sacrifice of the Holy Mass. 6. Finally, I thank you for your prayers, wishes and gifts to me on the occasion of my 60th birthday. Whether I look 60 or not, my life belongs to the Lord and I want to make it all about HIM. God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light” (Mathew 17:2). On this Second Sunday of Lent, the Church takes us to Mount Tabor where the transfiguration of the Lord occurred. The normal appearance of Jesus was transformed and the glory of the Lord surrounded Him. The light was so bright that the core group of disciples, including Peter, James, and John who accompanied Jesus up the mountain, could not see Jesus’ face. They heard the voice: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”. These are the same words which were heard at Jesus’ Baptism. The Disciples with Jesus saw Moses and Elijah talking with our Lord. Peter felt so uplifted that he didn’t want to leave and go down the mountain. The Transfiguration of the Lord is only a glimpse of the glory that is awaiting us in heaven. With His transfiguration, Jesus intended to strengthen the faith of the disciples in the face of His Crucifixion so that they would not be scandalized or shattered, but would continue to believe and spread the message. Today, the Lord is telling us that our trials and tribulations are only temporary. With courage and strength from the Lord, let us carry our daily crosses. With this message, please continue to follow the Lenten penances that you have taken up. Even if they become difficult, they are worthwhile. As St. Paul said: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18) This weekend I will be enthroning the most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary during all the Masses. I invite our parishioners and all those who attend the Masses at our Church, to come to the parish hall after each Mass to enjoy a slice of the local kumquat pie to celebrate the enthronement of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary and also to celebrate my 60th birthday. I am so grateful to the Lord for the gift of life to me and for choosing me as His priest and bringing me to the United States of America to serve Him and His People here. Please pray for me so that I will continue to be His faithful Servant until the end of my life. The kumquat pies are sponsored by my mom. Thank you, mom! God bless you! Fr. Bob Romain

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned” ( Psalm 51:3 ) Throughout the season of Lent the mercy of God is echoed in all our prayers and penances. On the first Sunday of Lent, the Church is asking us to meditate on the temptations of Christ based on the gospel of Mathew 4:1-11. After praying and fasting for forty days and forty nights, Jesus became hungry. The devil thought that our Lord was vulnerable as hungry he was to yield to his temptations. Little did the evil one know the power of our Lord who refuted all his temptations. It is a lesson for us to be aware that the devil is wicked and cunning. He tempts us when we are weak and vulnerable. Let us seek the help and the mercy of God in times of temptations of body, mind and soul. After Jesus triumphed over the temptation of the devil, the angels came and ministered to him (Mathew 4:11). God sends the angels to assist us in our struggles. So let us keep up the good fight with the evil. With God’s grace we will be victorious.  On the first Sunday of Lent (2/22/2026), our OCIA director David Goswick and I will be presenting our catechumen Robert Escamilla to our Bishop, Most. Rev. Gregory Parkes during the Rite of Election at St. Jude’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg. During the ceremony of the Rite of Election, the Bishop gives his approval to all the catechumens from various parishes in our diocese to go forward towards the reception of the sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Eucharist at Easter Vigil. I thank our parishioner Anavictoria Campos who went out of her way to teach Robert the tenets of our Catholic Faith. My gratitude goes to Anna Swiderski, Robert’s sponsor and his would be mother in law, Sarah, his fiancee and her whole family for their support to Robert in his journey to Catholic Faith. During the forty days of Lent, I will be happy to come to your homes to officiate the enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the immaculate Heart of Mary in your homes. Please call our office to schedule the time and the date of the enthronement once you have the images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary ready. We have the most beautiful round shaped stained glass windows of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the back wall in the sanctuary. They capture our attention as we enter the church. They date back to the first Church building. We will do the enthronement of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate heart of Mary in our Church next Sunday. God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it”. ( Psalm 118:24) This weekend I would like to prepare all of us, in a gentle and prayerful way, to enter into the season of Lent which begins on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2026. The Lord, in the Gospel of Matthew 5:17-37, gave a new dimension to the old Mosaic Law as a way to advance towards perfection. It is an invitation by the Lord to all of us to grow in holiness day by day. Let us accept the Lord’s invitation and enter into Lent with the hope of becoming better disciples. The Lenten season consists of forty days based on the Biblical reference to the forty days and nights of floods at the time of Noah (Genesis 7:4), the forty years the People of Israel wandered in the wilderness before entering the promised land (Numbers 14:33), the forty days and nights Moses spent on Mount Sinai before receiving the Ten Commandments (Exodus 24:18) and the forty days of fasting and prayer by our Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness (Matthew 4:2). The number “40” in the Bible symbolizes a time of testing, trial, purification and preparation for something new and better—a higher transformation. In the Church, we have the tradition of giving up something during this time or making a pledge to do something positive such as spending extra time in prayer or doing additional works of charity. Please use this Lenten season to focus your time and attention on the Lord and what He asks of you. Let us all make the best use of this time of Lent to prepare ourselves for the glories of Easter. On a personal note, I would like to share that in 2023, I gave up Facebook during Lent. The grace from that Lent is that I now have no desire to get back on Facebook. I use the added time towards the holy hours which I do for different intentions. Praise the Lord!!! Our Parishioners Roger and Kelli Crabb have purchased 230 copies of the book ‘The Seven Pillars of Catholic Spirituality’ by Matthew Kelly for our Lenten reading. Please take one per family. We thank them for their generosity to our Parish. I highly recommend that parents talk to their children about the seven pillars of Catholic Spirituality. It will strengthen their faith. Finally, I want to invite you to look forward eagerly to Lent not as a somber or negative time, but as an invitation to each of us to come close to the Lord. By the end of the day and by the end of our lives, all that matters is GOD! God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24) This weekend, the Lord is asking us, through the Gospel of Mathew, Chapter 5, to be the “…salt of the earth and the light of the world.” Before laying out the ways and means to follow his direction, let us first thank God, as a Parish, for His blessings to us this last year. Last year, the Lord blessed us with Eucharistic Revival in the form of having video lessons with Bishop Robert Baron on different parts of the Mass. We were blessed with brown scapulars enrolling our parishioners in the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. We started silent Eucharistic Adorations every Friday after the 8 am Mass and Eucharistic Processions annually to conclude the Christmas season. We held a Ministry Fair and established 50 ministries and groups. With the cooperation of the Jubilee Committee, we organized the veneration of the relics of various saints. The repair committee supervised the various repairs to the Church after the two hurricanes. The entrance of our Church looks fabulous with new doors and a historic plaque displaying the history of our Church on the wall. We thank God for His many other blessings to us as individuals and families. Now the way for us to be salt of the earth and light of the world is by taking part in the CATHOLIC MINISTRY APPEAL of the Diocese of St. Petersburg. By participating in this Appeal, we are cooperating with our Shepherd, the Most. Rev. Bishop Gregory Parkes, to continue the works of charity and mercy established by the Diocese. Through the Catholic Ministry Appeal, pregnant mothers are helped to protect and care for the babies in their wombs, the poor students in our Catholic schools are given tuition assistance, the poor and those economically struggling are helped through Pinellas Hope and Hillsborough Hope, and the seminarians of our Diocese are supported in their training to be future priests. We reached our goal last year. This year our goal is $56,314.00. I have completed my pledge. I encourage all the members of our Parish to please participate in this Diocesan-wide Appeal. Together we can do so much good. The Lord said:  “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” Mathew 25:40 God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24) We are already one month into the year of 2026. Time will not wait for anyone. Therefore, let us make the best use of every minute the Lord gives us. I would like to highlight the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple which is celebrated on February 2nd every year. According to the law of Moses, every first born male child was to be presented to the Lord in the temple. (Exodus 13) Again according to the law of Moses, a woman was considered ceremonially unclean for forty days following childbirth. (Leviticus 12). Thus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, even though sinless, pure and unstained by original sin, offered a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons for her purification as prescribed by the law. The presentation of the Lord in the temple was in all aspects a respect for the Mosaic law. Digging deeper, the presentation of the Lord in the temple was, in fact, the return of the glory of the Lord to the temple. In the book of Ezekiel, chapter 10, the prophet Ezekiel saw the vision of the glory of the Lord departing from the Jerusalem temple because of the sins and the wickedness of the people of Israel. God was so angry with the people that He left the temple. This meant that all those years, before the arrival of the Savior, the temple priests were offering empty sacrifices in the temple. As the sinless Virgin Mary was carrying the child Jesus, the Son of God, in her arms, climbing the steps of the temple assisted by St. Joseph, the Heaven opened and all the nine choirs of Angels sang hymns of praise and worship and bowed down in Adoration to welcome the Lord back to the temple. It must have been an awesome moment, although it was hidden from the eyes of the people. How Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary, to bring the Son of God into world and become the means of returning the Glory of the Lord to the Jerusalem temple! I would ask all parents to consecrate your children to the Lord, regardless of the child’s age so that they remain in God’s graces at all times. There is the tradition of Priests and Nuns belonging to Religious Orders renewing their Vows on this Feast Day. In addition, there is a tradition of blessing of candles during the Mass, which is why the Mass is sometimes referred to as the “Candlemas.” We too can renew our commitment to the Lord for ourselves and our children on this special occasion. This weekend we have placed the Catholic Ministry Appeal envelopes in the pews. Next weekend I will speak about the Catholic Ministry Appeal at all Masses and commission all the ministries, committees and councils in the parish. Standing next to me in the picture is Frank Gude, the oldest member of our Parish, who celebrated his birthday on January 26th. Congratulations on a life in which you have served the Lord and our Parish. God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24) This weekend we celebrate the 3rd Sunday of Ordinary time of the year. The Lord began his preaching by inviting everyone to repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repentance comes from the Greek word ‘ Metanoia’ which refers to a profound change of heart and mind, one’s behavior and one’s way of life. It is a conversion towards loving God above all and to love others as God would want us to love them. In today’s gospel Jesus calls the first disciples to follow Him: Peter, his brother Andrew, James and his brother John. All four of them were fishermen. As the days passed, he chose the rest of the twelve disciples. Their role was to assist the Lord in the establishment of the Kingdom of heaven. Indeed they had done their part. Today we are entrusted with the task of proclaiming the Kingdom of God and the Good News of Jesus Christ throughout the world. In order to continue the good works of the Kingdom of heaven in our diocese, we are invited by our Bishop the Most. Rev. Gregory Parkes to take part in the Catholic Ministry Appeal. Through this Program, our diocese helps the poor find shelter and affordable housing through Catholic Charities, offers the needed care to pregnant mothers to protect and nourish their babies in their wombs, helps the poor students in our catholic schools towards their education, assists the teens and young Adults attend the Good Samaritan Projects to build up their character, supports seminarians in their training to becoming future priests and many other charitable activities. Our goal this year is $ 56,314.00. With the participation of all the families, we will reach our goal and help continue the good works of the kingdom of God in our five county wide diocese and beyond. I ask all the families of our parish to prayerfully consider pledging to this appeal of our Bishop. God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24) This is the second Sunday in Ordinary Time of the year. John the Baptist refers to Jesus as ‘the Lamb of God’ in the Gospel of John. In the Old Testament, lambs were sacrificed in the temple as an atonement for the sins of the people. The blood of a lamb was sprinkled upon people as a way of easing away their sins and offenses. But the truth is that the blood of a lamb has no power to forgive the sins of people. It is only the blood of the Son of God that has the power to wash away the sins and offenses of the people. That is the truth which John the Baptist proclaimed when he addressed Jesus as ‘ the lamb of God’. John was given the privilege of seeing the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus in the form of a dove. That was the confirmation to him that Jesus was the Son of God. This week, January 18-25, is known as the week of prayer for Christian Unity which was initiated by the Graymoor Franciscans in 1905. This is an Ecumenical observance that lasts eight days where the Catholic Church is joined by other, Protestant denominations to pray for Christian unity. We refer to the Church as the Body of Christ which has been broken into various pieces. We hope and pray that soon there will be ‘one flock and one shepherd’ (John 10:16). January 22nd is the day of prayer for the legal protection of unborn children. We continue to pray with the hope that the hearts and minds of parents will be strengthened to ensure that every unborn child is protected in the womb of his or her mother. The birth of a child brings so much joy to the entire family. As all human life is the gift of God, we are called to preserve, promote and protect it from the moment of conception to natural death. May God bless and protect all the families and their children. God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24) This weekend we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Even though Jesus did not need to be baptized because He is God, He allowed John the Baptist to baptize Him out of respect for the tradition. Soon after Jesus was baptized, the heavens were opened and the Spirit of God came upon Him in the form of a dove. A voice came from the heavens, proclaiming: “ This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased”. This is the affirmation from God yahweh that Jesus is the long awaited Messiah. Jesus was baptized as an Adult at the age 30 as the beginning of his public ministry. In the early years of the Church only the Adults were baptized in the Church. Due to the black plague which killed 20 million people most of whom were children in Europe in 1300 AD, the Church started baptizing babies so that they would have the grace of Baptism. According to the teaching of the Church, Baptism is the sacrament by which the original sin we were born with is forgiven. What is original sin? It is the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, as a result of their disobedience to God as mentioned in the book of Genesis, chapter 3. Once our original sin is forgiven, God adopts us as His children and we become members of the Church. The grace of Baptism is that it leaves an indelible mark on our souls, reminding us that God claimed us for Himself and that we belong to God for ever. Since most of us were baptized as infants, the date of our Baptism remains in the Parish records. Somehow there has been no tradition to celebrate the Anniversary of our Baptism while we celebrate our birthdays every year. The day of our Baptism is important as the life of grace starts that day. That’s why it is worth finding out the date of our baptism from our Parish records and celebrate it with gratitude to God by attending the holy Mass. I know the date of my Baptism. Do you know the day you were baptized ? With the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Christmas season comes to an end. On January 12th, the Ordinary Time of the year begins in the liturgical calendar. The Ordinary Time is the longest period during which we reflect upon the public ministry of Jesus, His teachings, miracles and His call to conversion. It is already ten days into the new year 2026. Let us live each day of the year for God’s glory, remembering our baptismal vows of renouncing sin and the glamour of evil, professing our faith in the triune God and following the teachings of the Church. Let our faith be seen in good works on a daily basis. Here the inspiring words of St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta are worth noting: “Let us do ordinary things in an extraordinary way”. God bless you! Fr. Bob Romaine